LibertarianFebruaryManifesto2018

Housing The Housing

Housing The Housing Crisis is one the biggest problems Britain faces, housing is unaffordable, and it is a struggle for average working people to get on the housing ladder. The reason for this crisis is due to supply and the solution is simply, increase the supply. The most beautiful and popular housing styles cannot be carried out with current rules on window size, corridor width, stair steepness, and minimum lift numbers. We will lift these regulations, or pre-approve popular time-honoured designs. Far from improving safety, these restrictions stifle consumer choice. Abolish HMO licensing. Landlord’s currently must acquire an HMO license if they are renting to five or more people who are form more than one household, if the building is at least three storeys high, and if the tenants share a bathroom or kitchen. The suggestion that a group of five people sharing a house is a matter of utter danger, but a family of six living in two storey flat is perfectly safe seems arbitrary, to say the least. Laws such as these make it harder for renters to find properties that suit their needs and limit their ability to cheapen their rent. Reform the green belt. By reforming the green belt land the supply of housing could grow enough to let prices fall considerably. All of this would actually require very little green belt land to be built on – less than 1.5% of it would give us the space we'd need to build an extra 1.4 million new homes. We will seek to get rid of green belts up and down the country to increase the supply of housing Replace the current planning system with a rules-based system, along the lines of those in most continental European countries in favour of development. We will remove height restrictions on buildings which will make a gigantic difference in the supply of housing. Although we recognise the merit of such restrictions is some circumstances, we see deregulation as a key solution to the supply problem. Amendments to an old law (the Town and Country Planning Act 1947) are the bulk of Britain’s burdensome regulations on housing . It has become so burdensome that small builders and self-builds have nearly been driven from the market. We will go through this act with a fine tooth comb and will seek to roll back the parts which are unfit for a working housing system. PAGE 29